Tuesday, May 19th, 2015 at 9:42 am by ba3 — Category: Uncategorized

We added an improved lighting model that helps create an improved level of realism. This includes the rendering of an atmosphere layer and more flexible control for the developer so each application can have its own style. The improvements can benefit applications going for general or thematic cartography.

The new lighting model is based on atmospheric light scattering equations with different components of the scattering, Rayleigh and Mie, controlled independently. The light wavelengths scales are also exposed to allow fine control over specific color targets.

The relative offset feature lets you have a fictional sun direction at or near the view direction. This helps maintain the lit area while a user is panning enabling a good readability of map content while maintaining the lighting aesthetic.

API control:

• change sun direction relative to earth
• change sun direction from relative view offset to an absolute position
• switching between simple shading and realistic shading
• control over exposure of atmospheric light scattering equation
• change sun light wavelengths